| Overview
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Cass Forrester grew up in Aleswich. She's the daughter of Rhoda Forrester, a well-respected junior high teacher, and Dr. Richard Forrester, a general practitioner who moved to Aleswich very soon after he graduated from med school, and never left. He died a few months ago, while Rhoda died about five years before that. (Her dad was something of a cold fish, though a very good doctor. Her mother was well liked by just about every class that ever had her.)
A mousy, shy, intent sort of girl, Cassandra was mildly derided by her junior high school classmates, and largely ignored by the high school version of those teens, except when they were taking advantage of her brains. She left for college down south once she graduated from Aleswich High, and has only been back a few times since. She apparently became a psychiatrist, an interesting profession for someone so bad with people. (But then, she was a reasearcher...) When her mother died, that sent her off the rails, and she went back to school -- Divinity School. Now that she's inherited her father's house, she's back, and apparently planning on staying.
What actually set her off the rails was her durance, of course. People change. Most of them don't become hospital chaplains, but there's Cass for you.
She came out of it incised and flensed by the minds of the Gentry, and yet also far more understanding of humanity as a whole; she had felt people and understood them at their core, experienced their dreams and hopes and possibilities. And so, a mid-life career change. To the outside world, her mother's death made her re-think her priorities. For Cass, it was merely a convenient excuse.
Dr. Cassandra Forrester was an impatient, driven, shy, often unsympathetic woman, focused on her work and unable to deal with humanity very well. Dr. Cass Forrester is impatient, compassionate, shy, focused on her work, and learning to deal with humans. Slowly. Catch her in a group, you'll probably get about three words out of her. One on one... It all depends.
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| RP Hooks
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- Aleswich native, 70s-era: She graduated high school in 1986. Did you mostly ignore her in high school? Want to see if you're likely to still?
- Hospital: Stuck in the hospital? Want some comforting words? Can do. Alternatively, want to rail against God because bad things are happening to good people? Cass is your gal! Heck, she'll probably rail right along with you. She's a chaplain, but she's not the type of chaplain with a stiff collar. Interacts with social workers, etc.
- Unitarian-Universalist: Unitarians don't get stiff collars, you see. Want some spirituality laced with the trappings of religion, or vice-versa? Again, Cass is your gal.
- Therapy: Practicing therapist. Has set up a part-time practice. More specifically, she's was a psychiatrist and is now a pastoral counselor. Can do traditional therapeutic approach, but also the psychospiritual approach. (Looks at existential questions of life and its meaning through the spiritual angle. Specifically does not do this through any particular doctrine.) Would probably be effective for those wary of traditional therapy. She's worked with many different groups, including prison populations and women escaping domestic Problems. Or women who think they might want to consider thinking about pondering getting around to thinking about doing that, someday.
- Police consultant: She has served, and is willing to serve again, as an expert witness. And as a consulting counselor for domestic situations.
- Academia: She's going to be teaching a Comparative Religions course at ARU soon. Maybe we can run into each other on campus. Also, she's durn good at researching just about any random thing you might want to poke into. (She also went to Harvard, in case you want to be all Old School Tie at her.)
- Activism: Social justice: Rah! (She's not going to hang around with anarchists, mind you, but she's nothing resembling conservative.) Have a do-gooder cause? She'll... Well, she'll probably argue with you about it, actually, but may well pitch in, too.
- Bureaucracy: The wheels of The System getting you down? Cass can, possibly, given all that, help. She's new to the Aleswich system, but the world's systems tend to work in similar ways. (IE, Merit: Bureaucratic Navigator.)
- Lost: She's one! Are you? Huzzah! It's nice to be at a sane freehold. Mind you, she's still shy. Ish.
- The Welcome Wagon: She's just joined this. She's both interested in helping people who are wary of life among the Lost, and in helping people join the Freehold. And also, just as importantly, in protecting the Freehold. All of which requires some gentle-but-thorough quizzing, initially. You're suspicious, we're suspicious, let's all be wary out in the open!
- Boston: Once she escaped Arcadia, she lived there for five years or so. She was pretty good at keeping her head down and not getting involved in the politics (and who can blame her?), but maybe you ran into her anyway.
- Sneakery: A Wizened who wants to help and yet mostly keep her head down, well, she turns to sneakery. One who is a horrible liar, therefore, turns to certain specific aspects of such things.
- Dawn Courtier: One might expect Winter from the Wizened who's seen far too much, but Dawn's claimed her. Hope and change speak to her too strongly. She joined at Midsummer, because a solstice /is/ change, incarnate. She's far more steady change than Marytr type, of course, and welcomes discussion about Dawn as a whole, though of course, she's still learning.
- Dreams: She's a psychiatrist, duh. Ahem. Actually, she's done a little bit of defending and fighting in dreams. She's no expert, but she is, at least, willing. Want some help? She just joined the Dream Guard, too. (Non-Lost types, she does consider dreams to be a possible way to self-understanding and healing, so, if you want an excuse to explore Meaning, she's there.)
- Local history: She inherited her father's collection of local history and lore, some of which is rarer than she expected. Since she now /has/ a collection, she's going to be adding to it. Want to browse with her? Mmmm. Booooks.
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| Random Facts
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- She legally changed her name from Cassandra to Cass a month or so after she tumbled out of the Hedge. Because the irony would otherwise have annoyed her.
- The average African elephant weighs 15,400 pounds.
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| Usual Appearance
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| Mask:
xxxxxCass is in her early 40s, by now, with the short and yet slightly disheveled salt-and-pepper hair and carven lines on her face to prove it; apparently, she's neither jovial nor depressed, at least not all the time, since she has both the beginning of the crow's feet that are a hallmark of the habitual smiler, and also a furrowed brow due to too much frowning. Her jaw's a little long, the chin's a little sunken. She's fairly pale, and her face is a little plump, though the rest of her is quite thin, disproportionately so; she stands at about 5' tall, though it seems a little less since she as an unfortunate tendency to slump. (Her great-aunt would be so disappointed.) She has the added tendency of not quite looking straight at anyone. In fact, she's almost always looking a little down, or a little to the side, so the times when she spears whoever she's talking to with a lucid blue gaze are all the more startling.
xxxxxShe's wearing slacks and a nice suit jacket, with a shell underneath. And flats. Professional, but not offputting.
Mein:
xxxxxCass is in her early 40s, by now, with the short and yet slightly disheveled salt-and-pepper hair and carven lines on her face to prove it; apparently, she's neither jovial nor depressed, at least not all the time, since she has both the beginning of the crow's feet that are a hallmark of the habitual smiler, and also a furrowed brow due to too much frowning. Her jaw's a little long, chin's a little sunken, and her ears are pointed at the tips. She's fairly pale -- actually, white, without any of the peach-tinge of other Caucasians -- and her face is a little plump. The shadows lie slighty oddly on her, given her pale-white complexion. The rest of her is quite thin, disproportionately so; she stands at about 5' tall, though it seems like less since she's a little hunched over, with an unfortunate tendency to slump. (Her great-aunt would be so disappointed.) She has the added tendency of not quite looking straight at anyone. In fact, she's almost always looking a little down, a little to the side, so the times when she spears whoever she's talking to with a direct, lucid gaze are all the more startling.
xxxxxShe's wearing slacks and a nice suit jacket, with a shell underneath. And flats. Professional, but not offputting.
xxxxxShe smells just slightly of something new -- just cut grass, perhaps, or a breeze in early April.
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| People, an incomplete assortment.
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Arkady: One hopes you're being pessimistic. Update: Grmph.
Mouse: Good lord. *pause* Well. It's good to have an acquai-- Frie-- Someone I knew and liked. (...Friend. Maybe again, eventually? Pity I suck at friends.) Update: Man. I'm so glad I blundered back here.
Douglas: Couldn't say. But you feel right.
Prudence: I feel way less cynical when you're around. That's good, right?
Pomona: You too.
Bramble: You've got quite a skill at providing foundation.
Danielle: I don't say this lightly, but: What the fucking fuck? Update: ...No, really, that still works. But apparently an ally. I don't even /know/.
Boyd, Eliot: What an odd idea. Seems to be working so far, though. Even if still very /odd/.
Jamie: Can I borrow a dog sometime? I'll bring him back. (I'm aware that's a no. Ah, well.)
Peter: My, you're worrisome.
Lynn: You're worrisome in a different way. I wish I could help.
Oren: How very romance tragedy. You are aware that they're /tragedies/, are you not?
Clara: Thank you for the welcome.
Piersen: House is only fun because it's a TV show. Just thought you'd like to know.
Arkady: Hey, you're a doctor! Oh, wait, I knew that.
Nakesha: I love when a good plan comes together.
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| Gallery
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Nota Bene: Many of these are pictures of a woman who is older than Cass currently is. Think of it as possible futures.
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| Cass Forrester
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| A Few Stats Of Note.
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| Dreamery: Starting to get a grip, and interested. (Dream Combat: 1)
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| Sneaky: Because if you're trying to keep your head down and yet also be useful, sneak. (Some relevant stats there: Stealth: Shadowing 2, Fleet of Foot, Contracts of Separation: 4, Contracts of Reflection: 2)
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| Money: Not rich, but not hurtin'. Willing to help folks out. (Resources: 3)
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| Books are, in fact, actually her friends: She's just excessively good at research. And remembering things. Because when people are an annoying puzzle, you turn elsewhere. (Some relevant stats: Academics: 4, specialty of Research, Medicine: 3, Trained Memory: 1, and so on.)
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| Soundtracks:
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| I don't really think in soundtracks, and Cass isn't really a soundtracky sort of character, to my mind, but if you find something that makes you think of her, by all means, mention it to me.
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